Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 91: Forcing Father
Naturally, the Wu family also got wind of the news very quickly.
When Cai Qiaozhu heard the news, she choked on the water she had just drunk. Bitao kept patting her back to help her breathe. After a while, she finally recovered and asked Wu Liu, "Is this... is this a rumor, or is it true?"
Wu Liu didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Cai Qiaozhu said: "Speak! Speak!"
Wu Liu held his breath for a long time before he said, "These rumors are almost all true."
"This, this is impossible." Cai Qiaozhu said, "What kind of person is Youyu... This..." She wanted to defend Ye Youyu, but suddenly she felt that Ye Youyu's whereabouts in the past few days were really strange, and she didn't tell her anything. Thinking about it carefully, she and this sister-in-law didn't have a deep relationship.
Although Ye Youyu has behaved properly since joining the company, and the things he has done are all to her liking, but as the saying goes, you can never know a person's heart through his appearance. Who knows if what he did before was just a temporary act?
There is a Cantonese proverb: A newly married woman is a newborn baby. This refers to the responsibility of a mother-in-law to educate a newly married woman. Now that the old lady of the Wu family is gone, the eldest sister-in-law is the mother, and this is Cai Qiaozhu's responsibility.
Thinking of this, Cai Qiaozhu couldn't help but feel a little regretful. Since Ye Youyu got married, she had directly placed her in Henan and let her take charge without properly teaching her the family traditions and rules of the Wu family. Was she wrong to do so?
The Wu family has never had such a scandal since the old man started his business.
"Ah Liu," Cai Qiaozhu said, "Don't just hear it from others. This is about the reputation of the Third Young Lady ."
People are more tolerant of men than women. No matter how Wu Chengjian acted in Shenxianzhou, he turned the tide last year, and people thought he was a good man who had turned over a new leaf. Some even thought his behavior was romantic, and even half of the wealthy ladies in Xiguan Street were willing to marry him.
But Ye Youyu was different. She was a pregnant woman, but instead of staying at home, she took the opportunity to expose her husband's mistress when his wife was thrown into prison - this was called jealousy. She also forced the woman to get off the boat on the spot - this was called meanness. After taking the Huachai, she used this big boat to entertain her brothers from her natal family - this was called being a traitor!
Being jealous and mean are no longer good reputations. Openly using the good things from the husband's family to subsidize the wife's family is a big taboo in the boudoir. The first two things will only cause people to gossip about you, but if the latter thing is known by the relatives of the Wu family, they will probably come to interfere and ask about it.
Wu Liu said hesitantly, "This... others just heard it from others, but I can't. Now the courtesan from the Tanka family has moved to the charity cemetery. And the young masters of the Ye family are all drinking and having fun in the Huachahao. This... can't be false."
Cai Qiaozhu also knew what position Wu Liu held as a servant in the family. He was someone who could even dig out Wu Qi's secrets. She couldn't hide anything that happened in her family from him, so the rumors about Ye Youyu seemed to be true.
"Go, go!" Cai Qiaozhu shouted, "Go and call the Third Young Lady over to me. I want to ask her some questions!"
Wu Liu said: "Go now?"
"Of course we should go now!" Cai Qiaozhu said, "I can take care of things outside or not, but I can't ignore things in the inner house."
Although the incident happened in Huachahao, in terms of the nature of the incident, it was a matter within the Wu family's inner residence.
Wu Liu said: "But the Third Young Lady hasn't come back yet, maybe she's still on the Huacha ship..."
"That's even more outrageous!" Cai Qiaozhu was angry. She rarely got angry like this. "If it was Hao Guan who had a banquet on the Huachai to entertain his elder and younger brothers, it would be fine if he made a scene. But she is the daughter-in-law of the Wu family, and she took over the boat of her mistress and then spent the night with her brothers from her natal family? If this word gets out, the Wu family will lose all their reputation. Go! Go! Go find someone now!"
Wu Liuyi felt that what the eldest young lady said made sense, so he took two people and rushed to Baietan - to go to Huachahao, one had to take a boat.
The Wu family had their own boat, but when Wu Liu arrived there was no one available. He was in a hurry and had no time to argue with the shopkeepers, so he asked someone to take some money to the dock to hire a boat.
Unexpectedly, he couldn't hire a boat either. He finally found an old boatman he knew. When he arrived, he said to Wu Liu, "Sixth brother, I heard that the Huacha boat has already weighed anchor after the young masters of the Ye family went aboard. Now I don't know where it has anchored."
Wu Liu said: "No matter where we moor, how big can Baietan be? You can take me to find it."
The old boatman looked embarrassed.
Wu Liudao: "What's wrong?"
The old boatman said, "Official Hao has ordered that we use the Huachai to entertain our brothers-in-law, and no one is allowed to disturb their fun these two days. If we take you on the Huachai now, we will be beaten when we get back."
Wu Liu angrily said, "How could Officer Hao have any instructions? I am the steward of the Wu family. How come I don't know!"
The old boatman said, "I don't understand. Anyway, someone has told us not to ferry across. Sixth brother, please don't make it difficult for me."
Wu Liu thought, "Could it be that the Third Young Lady took the chicken feather as a token of authority and falsely conveyed the order from Official Hao?"
Originally, Wu Chengjian was just a merchant of Yihehang, and his words could not command the entire Baietan. But since he was good friends with Liu Sanye, his words were endorsed by Hongmen. So these days, the fishermen, boatmen, and coolies near Baietan did not dare to disobey the words of Yihehang Haoguan. Although Liu Sanye's whereabouts are unknown now, the relationship between Wu Chengjian and Hongmen has not changed much. Since "someone has passed the message" that anyone who dares to ferry people will have his legs broken , then his legs will really be broken.
So Wu Liu walked around again, but he couldn't find a boat, either his own or from outside, that could take him to Huachahao.
"Alas!" Wu Liu sighed inwardly, "Third Young Madam has done a bad job this time. It will be even harder to explain when she returns home."
In desperation, he could only return to Xiguan to report.
Earlier, almost at the same time as the Wu family received the news, the Ye family also heard the news.
At first, Ye Dalin thought that the matter was a little strange and not like Ye Youyu's style, while Ma was gloating over the misfortune and scolded the little bitch in the house, saying that she was not a good person. Didn't this reveal her true colors? Xu in Yingyang Garden didn't believe that Youyu would do such a thing.
Then, the news that "several young masters of the Ye family were promoted to Huacha" also came - this news took some time to reach the ears of Ye Dalin and his wife, because it involved several young masters in the mansion, and the servants did not dare to act rashly for a while. It was not until the news became a hot topic outside that Ye Duofu mentioned it to Ye Dalin tremblingly.
Ye Dalin was stunned at the time, and Ma quickly sent people to look for her sons. As a result, after searching from Ye Haoye to Ye Hao's house, all the young masters of the Ye family were missing!
Ma was furious and immediately sent people to Baietan to capture the man. However, they encountered the same dilemma as Wu Liu. The only difference was that Wu Liu could not mobilize the Yihexing ship, but Ye Duofu could mobilize the Ye family's ship. As a result, after searching Baietan, they could not find the Hua Cha ship, and no one knew where it went.
After hearing this, the people of Shenxianzhou talked about it a lot, and they all laughed and said, "This Third Young Lady Wu from the Ye family is really a model of loving and supporting her brother. She actually made such an appropriate arrangement for her brother to have a romantic time."
Ma was furious when she heard the news. She ignored Ye Dalin's prohibition and went straight to Yingyang Garden. She scolded Xu: "Everyone knows that your daughter is not a good person! She is already married, but she still leads her brothers astray!"
During this period, Xu had also sent people to inquire about the matter. From the news that came back, it seemed that the matter was actually true! So even though Ma spit on his face, he could only bow his head and endure it.
In the study, Ye Dalin was getting irritated. People outside were watching the show, but he knew that his daughter was not an ordinary person. It was a time of trouble, and such a strange incident had happened. He felt that something was wrong. But he couldn't figure out what was going on for a while.
Just then, Ye Zhong walked in and said, "Master, the third young lady is here."
"Huh?" Ye Dalin sat up straight at once: "What?!"
Ye Zhong whispered, "The third girl changed her clothes and quietly came in through the back door. She asked Changzi to find me and asked me to bring her to see the master."
Ye Dalin thought to himself, "It's really not a good thing!" He waved his hand and said, "Bring it here!"
Ye Youyu had been waiting outside for a long time. Ye Zhong went to lead her in. She was dressed as a maid and walked in slowly, holding her waist. Dongxue and Changzi stayed outside.
After entering, she said, "Uncle Zhong, I have something important to tell my father. Don't let anyone get close to me."
Ye Zhong looked at Ye Dalin, and when he saw Ye Dalin nod, he went out and stood guard outside.
Only then did Ye Youyu bow to his father.
Ye Dalin said coldly: "What are you going to do now!"
Ye Youyu said, "This time, my daughter is here on behalf of Haoguan to discuss a business with father."
Ye Dalin said coldly: "Business? What business!"
Ye Youyu said: "From now on, the Ye family will fight to the death with the Wu family. The Ye family will help the Wu family overcome this difficult time at all costs."
"This is the opening..." Ye Dalin laughed up to the sky: "Why?"
Ye Youyu spoke calmly, but in a way that made people feel uneasy: "The Huacha has already sailed to the Lingdingyang. If Dad doesn't agree, or if he agrees with ulterior motives, or if he does something bad, the Huacha will sink into the sea in the Lingdingyang. Dad, my eldest brother hasn't given birth to a son yet. Your eldest sister-in-law gave you granddaughters in her first two pregnancies. All your sons are now on the Huacha. If the ship sinks, our Ye family will be extinct."
Ye Dalin's eyes almost bulged out like a dead goldfish, and a beast-like voice came from his throat: "Ye! There! Is a fish!"
